#340 - 🌍 Driving Neonatal Progress in Rural Nigeria (ft. Dr. Olufunke Bolaji)

Hello friends 👋

In this episode, Mbozu interviews Dr. Olufunke Bolaji, consultant pediatrician and neonatologist at the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti, shares her journey into neonatology, driven by mentorship, a love for children, and global learning experiences in Nigeria and the UK. She describes leading a high-performing neonatal unit in a rural Nigerian setting that has achieved Level 3 care, supported by strong hospital administration and collaborations.

Her research focuses on preterm births, neonatal sepsis, respiratory support, and newborn metrics, with emphasis on data-driven quality improvement. As a leader in the African Neonatal Association, she champions collaboration, advocacy, and “decolonizing” neonatal research by centering African-led priorities and implementation. She highlights the importance of teamwork, mentorship, data, and partnerships in merging clinical care with impactful research.

Link to episode on youtube: https://youtu.be/SoSEj5Tm2I4

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Short Bio: Dr Olufunke Bolaji is a Consultant Paediatrician & Neonatologist at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, and an Associate Professor at Afe Babalola University’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

She holds an MB;BS (University of Ilorin, 2003), Fellowship in Paediatrics (National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, 2015), and Postgraduate Certificate in Neonatology (University of Southampton, UK, 2022). She is completing an MSc in Public Health (University of Suffolk, UK, 2026). Her professional development includes training in global health policy, child protection systems, and advanced vaccinology.

A passionate advocate for newborn health in Africa, she leads the Neonatal Unit at FETHI, delivering quality care in resource-limited settings. She has 30 peer-reviewed publications, has presented internationally, and reviews for top journals.

Her research interests include preterm infants, neonatal sepsis, and resuscitation. She co-leads major projects such as:

• PRETERM AFRICA STUDY – testing interventions for respiratory distress syndrome in preterm babies.

• PANSAA – a pan-African initiative to reduce neonatal mortality.

• African Neonatal Network – data-driven quality improvement in neonatal units across 7 African countries.

• SNIP-AFRICA – research into treatments for neonatal infections and sepsis.

She advises the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria, contributes to national newborn and HIV policy documents, and holds leadership roles in NISONM, the African Neonatal Association, and other national/international technical working groups.

Outside work, she enjoys family time and teaching Bible stories to children in church.

Contact: Olufunke Bolaji - https://www.linkedin.com/in/olufunke-bolaji-625b3b6a/

Check timings

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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇

Mbozu Sipalo (00:01.366)

Welcome everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Global Near NATO podcast. Today is just me hosting Mbozu because my amazing co-host Shaili Ann isn't able to make it today but I'll really try to channel her amazing energy throughout this episode and yeah we're really exciting podcast we're having today where we'll

have an incredible guest I'm going to introduce. Her name is Dr. Olufunke Bolaji. She is a consultant pediatrician and neonatologist at the Federal Teaching Hospital Eido Ekiti, an associate professor at Afer Baba Lola University in Nigeria. She leads neonatal unit at her hospital and serves as co-principal investigator of the preterm Africa study. She's a co-lead of PANSA.

Partnership for Accelerating Neonatal Survival Across Africa, Country Lead for the African Neonatal Network, and Ethics Advisor for the SNP Africa Trial. She provides technical expertise to Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health and currently leads the development of the National Roadmap for Scaling Up Newborn Commodities. She is the Chair of the Advocacy and Collaboration Committee of the African Neonatal Association.

and is a passionate advocate for improving the health of newborns in resource limited settings. Amazing story. And hi, Olufunke, how are you doing today?

Olufunke Bolaji (01:36.677)

I'm fine Bozo. Good afternoon from Nigeria and thank you so much for having me on this show. It's really a privilege to have this chat with you. Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (01:48.898)

Thank you. I'm so excited to chat with you today and just hear about your story. So the first question we usually ask our guests is what inspired them into their journey through pediatrics and neonatology and what drew them specifically to neonatology? So could you please share a bit about your career journey and what led you to newborn babies?

Olufunke Bolaji (02:15.911)

Okay, thank you very much for the question. I got into medicine in the first place because my parents advised me to be a doctor. I find it interesting when I hear people's stories and they say they've always wanted to be a doctor and I'm like, no, it's different for me. I wanted to be an accountant. I loved adding figures and getting balances and all of that. One day my parents called me and felt...

think you would make a good doctor. And in our setting, there's a unifying exam called JAMB, and you need to fill in what you want to do there. So just like that, I had to swap. And I did accounts in secondary school, did economics, those are all things for social sciences. But thankfully, I also did biology and physics and chemistry. that's how medicine started.

I think it was one of the best decisions they could have made for one of their children. They supported me, my family supported me.

we got out of medical school eventually in 2003. In Nigeria back in those days, there were lots of industrial action, we call them strikes. So students get to spend more years in school than originally budgeted by the curriculum. So eventually we finished 2003 and then it now came to choosing one specialty.

My background has really been one of children, church, church choirs, teaching children in Sunday school and all of that. So I've always kind of loved children. So going through medical school and internship, I now got to see that there's actually an avenue for me to deal with children and provide...

Olufunke Bolaji (04:15.441)

be an avenue to bring good health back to them when they're sick. that's kind of helped me to make a decision on what specialty I wanted to do. And of course, I had great mentors along the way. And then after the general pediatrics.

Olufunke Bolaji (04:46.905)

Okay, so getting into neonatology was really a lot of mentorship and having people just hold my hand and guide me. So I had quite a number of senior professors who helped me to lean towards neonatology. It's still around me, Professor Adebame and Professor Owa. So they were neonatologists ahead of me and they kind of helped me to see how

I was gravitating towards this. So I had to do my Part 2 dissertation in neonatology. And ever since then, 2014, I've been a newborn. Of course, I still get to see pediatrics patients on request and community service and all those things. And we still do regular academic meetings on pediatrics. But I've worked consistently in the newborn now for 11 years. And it's been

quite it right I could do this for free

Mbozu Sipalo (05:50.766)

I love that. Just out of curiosity, what is like your favorite thing about being your neonatologist? Like from the top of your mind, maybe what you enjoy the most.

Olufunke Bolaji (06:04.529)

the fact that babies actually communicate with you without speaking.

the normal language we're used to. And it's one of the things I love to tell students that, mean, people wonder, how do you take care of newborns? can't tell you what's wrong. And I'm like, they are speaking. They speaking all the time. But it's up to you whether you understand what they are saying or not. But they ask, and they always tell the truth, exactly how it was they would tell you. So, I mean, that is amazing to me. We actually understand what the babies are saying.

Mbozu Sipalo (06:12.366)

Mmm.

Mbozu Sipalo (06:24.654)

you

Mbozu Sipalo (06:30.7)

Mm.

Mbozu Sipalo (06:36.654)

I

Mbozu Sipalo (06:40.054)

I love that. And more about the babies, you do lead the neonatal unit at the federal teaching hospital in Ido Eikiti. Can you tell us more about the hospital and the kind of care your team provides?

Olufunke Bolaji (06:55.399)

So thank you again. I'm happy to talk about my team because they're an amazing team. mean, the newborn unit in our hospital, Federal Teaching Hospital, is a team like no other. This is one place where the doctors, the nurses, the health attendants all work together as a team such that we can achieve the best outcomes.

I mean, of course we have mortality, but even in our mortality, our slogan in our newborn unit is to do our very best, very, very best that is within the scope of science, within what is available for us at present. So we always try, we always promise that we will do our best and that keeps us going. So we have a team of 26 nurses in our newborn unit. We have a team of five or

six doctors in various sometimes by the flow of people that we have and

When I first started at our newborn unit there was a senior neonatologist there, Dr. Adibara. She's left to another place now, but she built very good template, groundwork to build on in the unit. So first we were in level two units in just basic care, infection. We did pre-terms, but I mean basic care. But I mean it's all that we've now been able to do around with collaboration.

and all of that. We have been able to move to a level 3A facility. So we're able to give surfactants, we're able to do caffeine, we're able to ventilate, we're able to do non-invasive ventilation, we're able to do substance, and of course we still do a lot of collaboration and research. So it's really a team that I'm proud of and it's a unit that I'm proud of. And apart from what the unit itself

Olufunke Bolaji (08:55.401)

does. We also have excellent support from the hospital management. mean, the admin building is just right ahead of me. And I mean, if we need something, it just takes walking out to the chief executive's office and saying, I mean, Sal, we need this and we can be sure we'll have that support. So it's,

doing the best that we can from the clinicians' point of view, but also having the hospital management support because really you can't do much without the money. So, they gave us the support, administrative support, financial support to be able to do places. And I know every time maybe I write a letter or the unit writes a letter for something, we're always sure to put the line that thank you for giving us the

environments where which we can amplify our careers and our profession. I mean, that's really important to us that the hospital management supports us. So that's what it is like at Federal Teaching Hospital in Iduekiti. And we have quite a number of collaborations with the hospitals around us, such that we're not working in isolation. When we were chatting earlier, I also said that we just come back from a community engagement trip, seeing the peripheral centers around us,

primary health care centers, even the traditional but attendance and just having that conversation and seeing how we can help one another, what babies should they be referring, which babies are desperately sick, all those kind of things. So we do a lot of that in our unit. Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (10:34.584)

I love that. I love how you've elevated the hospital admin in your hospital and how they are very receptive and accommodating to your requests. Just more about Edo Eikiti. Where is it in Nigeria for listeners who don't know much about Nigeria? I myself have never been to Nigeria. It's on my list, but if you could just share about like...

Olufunke Bolaji (10:58.887)

You're short.

Mbozu Sipalo (11:03.787)

I definitely should.

Olufunke Bolaji (11:07.975)

okay so iddo ikiti is in ikiti state is one of the smallest states in nigeria so i actually work in a rural setting it's a really rural setting but i like it that way i've been here for uh been here for 15 years now it's southwest of nigeria and um if you know legos ikiti state is some five hours drive from legos um there is a flight

come to Ikite comes to a nearby city called Akure and Akure to here is about one hour drive so people should come we've had people coming in to see what we do

Mbozu Sipalo (11:52.968)

Mm-hmm. Lovely. And what is your bed capacity like at your hospital? You mentioned the doctors and nurses are on 26 to 5, and I'm just curious how busy your work gets.

Olufunke Bolaji (12:08.121)

It's good that you asked. We have 36 bedded units, but we don't have 100 % capacity all the time.

It's not very busy, but what I like about it that it gives us the opportunity to focus well on each baby that we have. Rather than having to rush through all the babies, you can be sure that each baby that comes here gets maximum care. There's always a consultant on call, there's a senior registrar, there's a junior doctor on call, and there are nurses on call. In the intensive care unit part of our ward,

Mbozu Sipalo (12:28.604)

Mm.

Olufunke Bolaji (12:47.161)

we try to maintain one least one one nurse to two babies at the most.

Mbozu Sipalo (12:54.338)

Hmm. wow. I'm super intrigued and also just curious. You say that you're in a rural setting that's level three, which I think isn't so typical for developing context. So I'm wondering, is that like the typical neonatal landscape in Nigeria?

Olufunke Bolaji (13:01.383)

Can you still hear me?

Mbozu Sipalo (13:21.976)

Sorry, did you hear my question, Olufunkke?

Mbozu Sipalo (13:27.938)

Hello.

Olufunke Bolaji (13:29.595)

Yes, I can hear you now.

Mbozu Sipalo (13:32.061)

all right. Did you hear my question?

Olufunke Bolaji (13:34.553)

No, I didn't hear that.

Mbozu Sipalo (13:36.404)

wow, okay, let me repeat the question. We'll edit that out. I was saying that, just to go over, thank you for sharing about Edo Eikiti. And I'm just curious, you say it's a level three facility, level three newborn care facility in a rural setting of Nigeria. Is that typical for Nigeria to have level three newborn care facilities in a rural environment?

Olufunke Bolaji (13:55.729)

Thank

Mbozu Sipalo (14:05.486)

Cause I know for settings like where I'm from in Zambia, that is not something that's found or usual. So just curious about that.

Olufunke Bolaji (14:16.795)

Yeah, nice question. It's good you asked. So the hospital has upgraded over the years. It used to be a general hospital first and then a medical center. And then by virtue of partnerships and collaborations, it got to where it is now that we can actually have a level three center. So it serves four of the states which we share borders with. And it's perhaps...

the in terms of bed capacity.

the largest we would have around us now. The community has also grown over the years. mean, compared to 15 years ago when I came, it's also grown. But you wouldn't compare Ikiti to Lagos, for instance, or to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja. It's so way off for many people. But we're doing amazing things and it's good, know. And some of the beauties of having this here is that the usual bureaucratic processes you

Mbozu Sipalo (15:02.691)

Mm.

Olufunke Bolaji (15:17.48)

would find in the bigger centers in the cities. You won't find them here. You can get things done like really quick. I think that's an advantage.

Mbozu Sipalo (15:24.791)

Mmm.

Interesting. All right, thank you so much for sharing that. Linking to my question, what does the broader healthcare landscape look like when you compare where you are to the national context of Nigeria in terms of neonatal care?

Olufunke Bolaji (15:47.771)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (15:52.337)

So brilliant question.

Nigeria for all intents and purposes is still one of the low and middle income countries and the newborn statistics are not the best sadly. Our latest NDHS figures say we have newborn mortality as high as 41 for every 1000 life births that we have and that's not very good. The Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine is really trying

our best to restrategize, what I mean and currently with the help of the Federal Ministry of Health, we're trying to develop a roadmap document on the national scale of essential priority newborn commodities and all of this is really geared towards achieving SDG 3 and

seeing that we're able to lower newborn mortality to 12 or less per thousand. so the indices are not the best but you will find pockets of excellence i would say i mean if you were in lagos for instance which we

We locally call the center of excellence. I you can get virtually any level of care that you want for a newborn in Lagos as far as you want it. But there are also the rural settings. There are the arts rich places. There are the places that are faced with internal displacement. There are those that there are communal clashes. And in those kind of places maternal mortality, newborn mortality are really high.

Olufunke Bolaji (17:38.057)

You know, it's not just about the newborn mortality. It's also maternal mortality. And sadly, again, Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortalities in the world. the new Minister of Health, Professor Ali Patti, is doing well with his sector-wide approach and really trying to get in front and bringing in a lot of new programs. The MAMI is one of them. And there's a lot of collaboration going on to see

Mbozu Sipalo (17:44.247)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (18:08.137)

that we're focusing on the areas. instance, one of the great interventions is brought in is having cesarean section three for every mother that needs it. And I mean, if you think about newborn resuscitation, for instance, if a mother is able to get CS when she needs it, then it's unlikely that the baby will be asphyxiated. I mean, the leading causes of newborn mortality in our environment are still neonatal sepsis.

Mbozu Sipalo (18:18.316)

Mm.

Olufunke Bolaji (18:37.849)

preterm birth and perinatal asphyxia. So getting to address one major part of it and with all the things we're doing with preterm births, we're hoping that when the next figures are released, that at least these things would show that we're working hard to bring down those bad statistics that we have in country.

Mbozu Sipalo (19:04.321)

thank you. Thank you for sharing that. for, I like that phrase you used, pockets of excellence, even though you have like, there's that landscape of challenging areas, but then you still have the pockets of excellence and ido ekkiti sounds like it is a pocket of excellence. So yeah, more about you.

You've trained in Nigeria, in the UK, and now you're completing a Masters in Public Health. How have these varied experiences influenced your perspective and practice in neonatal care?

Olufunke Bolaji (19:43.303)

Now that's something to reflect on, isn't it? So training in Nigeria, MBBS then and even now is one of the most...

Mbozu Sipalo (19:47.022)

You

Olufunke Bolaji (20:00.453)

diverse experiences one can have because you get to learn the basics, the science of medicine and then learn the things that are peculiar to the tropics. Still learn what happens in the temperate regions during the high income countries. I mean, whereas students in the UK for instance may need a one year gap year to go and do tropical medicine, I am right in the center of the tropical medicines.

Mbozu Sipalo (20:13.326)

Mm.

Mbozu Sipalo (20:27.343)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Olufunke Bolaji (20:30.895)

I don't need a one year high anywhere. I am right in the center of drop of medicine. And I mean, so it gives us this global perspective. And then because we're a low and middle income country, I mean, there's a limit to how much, how much, um, um,

Mbozu Sipalo (20:33.652)

you

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (20:48.835)

high level interventions in terms of technology, robotics and all of that that we have. So really learn the groundwork gives us that sound background that we need. So that was good for me. For fellowship that took me to pediatrics and then getting to the UK first by virtue of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health and I remain forever grateful I got a visiting fellowship and I was at Preston, one of

NHS hospitals there under Dr. Richard Gupta and she was amazing that was my first eye-opener to see how things are done for newborns in high-income country and it got me thinking that okay we can do some of this so this is non-invasive death ventilation we can get to do this too so now seeing neonatology in in the global perspective in what would they do in high-income countries what are they doing why is it that they're

are not dying? What drugs are they using? How are they doing infection control? How are they, I mean...

doing interventions, timeliness of interventions. So that began to influence some of the protocols we have back at home. And it shaped us. mean, for the first time, we also developed protocols in the newborn unit. So if you have this, what do you do? If you have this, what do you do? So that there is a standard. I first learned that when I got to the UK. And then afterwards, I know that this amazing post-grad in neonatology, and that literally turned my

Mbozu Sipalo (22:10.542)

Mmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (22:26.795)

life around. I there's no other way to say it. I had to give a feedback to our teachers and they were like this is the kind of thing we want to have. It was it was it wasn't in person.

Mbozu Sipalo (22:29.09)

you

Olufunke Bolaji (22:41.433)

It was online, because honestly, with Southampton, I felt like I was in class every single day. Our teachers had live sessions with us every single week. So we learnt a lot. then I began to see interventions that now have been proven to be groundbreaking in newborn care. Then I learnt about caffeine. We had always done aminofiline here. Then I learnt about surfactants. And then, like, if they can get it,

Mbozu Sipalo (23:07.769)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (23:11.337)

then we can get it. i mean around us here the four or five states around us were the only ones that stock surfactants but wherever they are selling it we make sure that we get it and then we serve as a hub so if my neighbor in Ilari wants a surfactant or Bola Chilli has a surfactant i have it you get it in i can quickly send it unlike them getting it all the way from Lagos which is another six hours drive and

Mbozu Sipalo (23:24.941)

Mm-hmm.

Mbozu Sipalo (23:38.318)

Mmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (23:39.345)

We didn't mind. We can do that and we're happy to do that. We get caffeine. We use it. CPAP, mechanical ventilation, even the big centers around us. And for the first time, there was a...

four or five years back now, we were able to successfully take care of a 24-week gestation. That took us to the height that we'd never imagined was possible. 24 weeks, 600 grams in a public hospital, that was just the height of it. So we've been able to maintain the standards. Sure, we still lose babies. mean, sadly, we will still lose a term baby here. We will still lose 3,400 grams

baby hair, asphyxia, presents late, birth traumas. I mean really getting to the nitty gritties of newborn care, doing some parenteral alimentation, things that are only seen in high income countries. These are the experiences I got from learning in the UK and collaborations. For me the key word for all these things is collaboration. It's another thing to study. It's another thing to

Mbozu Sipalo (24:53.614)

Mmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (24:54.025)

to build what were our networks that will lead you on to things. I mean, the people I've met along the way, I mentioned Dr. Richard Gupta, I must talk about Professor Joey Lohan, I must talk about Alex Stevenson, the African Unital Network that has just opened up our horizon. So now I don't feel like I'm in a tiny corner of the world anymore. I mean, the things I do here, we can do it virtually.

Mbozu Sipalo (24:57.037)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (25:23.955)

anywhere and it's not just me, it's the team, there's team building, African Unital Network, African Unital Association, research partnerships. So it doesn't really matter where you are, get the education, get the networks and you can do whatever you want to do.

Mbozu Sipalo (25:41.856)

I love that. And this leads us to the next question. You are the chair of advocacy and collaboration committee of the African Neonatal Association with Anna, with the African Neonatal Association's first conference coming up in Kigali this August. How has your role evolved as the collab and advocacy queen?

What is your broader vision for Anna's future impact?

Olufunke Bolaji (26:19.441)

So thank you. I'm delighted to talk about African Neonatal Association because I think it's really a game changer for the continent. I mean, for the first time we're bringing together neonatologists and all pediatricians that work in the newborn space. I mean, there's the, what is the European one called now? The Joint European Neonatal Societies. I mean, the UK has its own.

Australia has Canada has America has but we didn't have anything in Africa so it was so timely so inspirational if you like that Alex started all of this and we continue to give him the credits for pulling us together but after pulling us together somehow it seemed to have a knack for who would lead this and who would lead this and we all started from scratch and we didn't have prior

experience on this. We were all clinicians, busy clinicians dealing with water, dealing with infection control. But he says no we needed to do this. So I mean somehow I got into advocacy and collaboration committee without a lot of experience. But now Mbosu says I'm the queen. I don't know.

Mbozu Sipalo (27:36.447)

Hahaha

Olufunke Bolaji (27:40.487)

so with lens

Mbozu Sipalo (27:41.931)

Hahaha

Olufunke Bolaji (27:46.533)

We've learned from bigger organizations. We've learned from well-established organizations. We've had amazing people hold our hand. I talked about Professor Joy Lone, Emma Markey at Gates Foundation, other associations within the continent. And they were blessed to have strategic leaders in themselves apart from Alex. Martha is there in Tanzania. John Baptiste is in Rwanda. Frank is amazing, francophone.

is doing excellently well with our research but you asked about my own role so first it was putting together a team we always need a team who would work with us and then at the beginning i don't know how many emails we wrote 30 40 anybody we're in the organization

Mbozu Sipalo (28:31.406)

You

Olufunke Bolaji (28:38.287)

Some responded, some did not, but we were lucky that the ones that responded were the best of the lots. they helped us. KAC Foundation reached out to us and said they would support our office, would support starting up the organization, they would support our journal. And then the London School, NEST 360, reached out to us. We signed the partnership.

Mbozu Sipalo (28:46.337)

Yes.

Olufunke Bolaji (29:05.711)

and now we have PANSA. I mean if you ask me now in hindsight, advocacy collaboration are really the powerhouse of any organization that wants to make an impact because you can't do it by yourself. You want to do something on ROP. There are people doing ROP. Reach out to them, learn from their experience, say okay,

Mbozu Sipalo (29:28.35)

you

Olufunke Bolaji (29:35.581)

at Global Foundation and she was sharing with us a few weeks back that the way they've grown from European Foundation now to Global, they've made mistakes along the way. They've learned some lessons and now they're where they are. So if we have another organization, go to GFCNI and learn from them. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. So I mean, when I started, I saw this course at

the University of Washington on global health advocacy and policy. So I quickly did it. It was a 12-week and short course. did it to help to help me in my role and I learned a lot. So that role has helped me to develop myself, develop a team, build up teams and then

By learning to, I guess I've also become better. Now I know in Bozo, I didn't know you a few weeks back. Now I'm on global, global unit podcast. It's all collaboration, networking. And that's really important for me. That's key. I hope I answered your question.

Mbozu Sipalo (30:35.544)

You

Mbozu Sipalo (30:48.78)

You have, and you've elevated a few of your networks and just explained how collaboration is so key to growth. And I appreciate you sharing that. So back to the collaborations, you have published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and serve as a reviewer for international journals. What are your

core research interests and what kind of questions are you most driven to explore?

Olufunke Bolaji (31:24.497)

Thank you. I started writing perhaps as a registrar. I had great mentors, Professor Yedechi held my hand, Professor Adibame, and they taught me, okay, write this part of it. I'll look at it, write this part of it. I'll look at it. Okay, can you be a second author? Can you be a first author? Can you be a corresponding author? So over the years, I mean, as my specialty, sub-specialty has developed,

My interests has gravitated to where I am now, where I'm most drawn to preterm births, I'm most drawn to things like newborn sepsis, I'm most drawn to things like newborn metrics, the people one works with also tend to influence your interests. because I'm interested in neonatal sepsis, I found this group, SNP Africa, doing an amazing adaptive trial.

looking at some antibiotic regimen and I got to be ethics advisor on that project. mean preterm births, we have a clinical trial, a large clinical trial going on one of the first on respiratory management in Africa and this is led by Africans and it's being done in Africa. So that's preterm births. I also have a passion for newborn resuscitation. So it's nice.

Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine and then one of the leaders in respiratory care in Nigeria, Dr. Ikechukwu Okonko. We've done a lot of work on training people on getting respiratory support training to the peripheral centers. Really amazing work has been done and this is done yearly, two times a year, three times a year. So the private person doing it,

organization doing it and we've gotten some papers out in that regard. So respiratory support, neonatal resuscitation, preterm births and of course the metrics and sepsis and you will see that the research that we're doing in recent times have really been around these key areas. I must bring to the fore what the African Neonatal Association is doing with VON. That's our African Neonatal Network which is

Olufunke Bolaji (33:54.277)

the first database of its kind having real time data across 23 facilities on the continent. And with that data, we're able to do benchmarking, we're able to do comparisons, we're able to bring out projects for quality improvement. Because I mean, when you use your data well, then you can identify things that need quality improvement. And that has gone on now for about two and a half years.

you what we've done so far also at the Kigali meeting in August just a few days before the conference that will be coming up.

Mbozu Sipalo (34:34.688)

I love that you have multiple interests and you've found different avenues to explore that. And I can assume it's through collaborating, through advocacy, through your network. So thank you for sharing all the work you're involved in. So you mentioned something about preterm Africa study being led by Africa researchers in Africa and African researchers.

Olufunke Bolaji (34:47.513)

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Mbozu Sipalo (35:02.242)

For researchers based in Africa who are just getting started with research, merging research and clinical care, what practical advice would you offer for getting a foot in the door? And based on your own journey, what's key to successfully merging clinical work with research?

Olufunke Bolaji (35:23.845)

Hmm, that sounds like many questions in one. If I wanted to say the things I've been privileged to, been blessed to have, have a good team in your local newborn unit.

Mbozu Sipalo (35:26.685)

Hahaha

Mbozu Sipalo (35:43.107)

Mm.

Olufunke Bolaji (35:46.563)

work as a team. Don't do anything in isolation. Work with a nurse. There's a lot we can learn from them. Work with the bio-med engineers. There's a lot we can learn from them. Build up a team. First. Second thing, keep your data. Even if you're only seeing 10 babies, keep the data on those 10 babies. Look for what is standardized data and try to keep data on the babies that you're seeing. We doctors kind of fall into the habit of working and working and

sighting lines and resuscitating babies and giving this antibiotics but we need to keep the data. The data that we keep is really the evidence for the work that we're doing and then publish what you have. There are lots of, I mean, journals, open access.

and there's a lot of support for researchers in low-income countries and we can publish what we have. When you publish what you have someone would read it. Someone in Australia wants to work on oxygen in Nigeria and you did something on the the spo to readings of all your babies that admission. They will pick it up. One of the hospitals we work with at the African Neonatal Network is a faith-based hospital. It's the first hospital in Nigeria.

is called Sacred Heart Hospital in in Abelkuta. They have a partnership with with a big research group in Australia who are working on oxygen. So whatever you have publish it and then

Go for meetings, go for conferences, come for the African Unital Association Conference in August. You will meet people you can collaborate with. So please come for conferences. I can never forget how much impact the International Matana and Newborn Health Conference in Cape Town last year, how much impact it made in terms of research. We found groups who are interested in caffeine. We found groups who are interested

Mbozu Sipalo (37:28.302)

Thank

Olufunke Bolaji (37:51.945)

in CPAP and they want to work with us. So build a team, keep your data, publish, collaborate with people, look for people with similar interests and just keep doing the work and go for conferences, African New Data Association. I think somewhere along the way you will meet the people. I feel there's one key part of your question I'm still missing, but I can't remember now.

Mbozu Sipalo (38:10.317)

Hahaha.

Mbozu Sipalo (38:21.558)

I think you have touched on it somewhat, but you did actually at the beginning on how do you successfully merge clinical with research? I think you talked about the team, working as a team. Yeah.

Olufunke Bolaji (38:33.319)

Yes. And then, I mean, research is important. It's important to document what you're doing. I mean, Alex at A &E at the very beginning, he said we need to have data. When we have data, then we can make...

informed decisions on the data that we have. So keep your data, publish your data, be diligent with data keeping, keep electronic data. Gone are the days when everything is on paper and something happens to the case note or the case records. It's lost forever. So keep your electronic data and publish. I mean, I met Albert at Zambia and he had been doing a lot of work on CAFEIN and I didn't know until there was an opportunity for AI.

me to do some survey on caffeine. And then we got in touch and now we're co-authors on one or two papers. So you will find co-authors you can work with, collaborate with your local, either pediatric or neonatal association if you have. Be a voice, be an advocate for the babies. And just trust God that good things will come your way.

Mbozu Sipalo (39:49.25)

Love that. Thank you for sharing that and just elevating the importance of data teamwork, effective teamwork and yeah, trusting the process and trusting God. You sort of touched on a few of the projects you're involved in. And I was wondering if you could share about one of them. It could be the preterm Africa study or PANSA, like working us through.

what the trial is all about, how you're involved, how you got involved as well, if you don't mind. Whichever you feel like sharing amongst the projects you're involved in.

Olufunke Bolaji (40:32.177)

Okay, thank you. It's a good opportunity for us to talk about what we're able to do where we have talked a bit on Britain Africa. So maybe I should talk on PANSA. So PANSA is where we have a codename bit as the largest neonatal partnership in Africa, because that's what it is. Codename largest partnership. Nothing short of it.

Mbozu Sipalo (40:41.902)

Mm.

Mbozu Sipalo (40:50.978)

Hahaha

Mbozu Sipalo (40:57.678)

you

Olufunke Bolaji (41:02.12)

The 360 have been going on and strong for quite a while in Africa. And there's so many facilities, so many babies covered between them.

And then, mean, Professor Joy Lund looked for an opportunity to partner with, I mean, the newest kid on the blog, African Unital Association. And I mean, the beauty of African Unital Association is that we literally have members in every country in Africa. So, I mean, this was pitched to us, the leadership, the executive committee looked at it and we thought it was nice. was, had a lot of potential and we signed an MOU. And then the opportunity now came to align

Mbozu Sipalo (41:28.856)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (41:42.281)

our data. And that really is what the PANSA project is about, aligning the data of NEST 360 with African Neonatal Network. So in African Neonatal Network, we already have 23 facilities and then about 50 something facilities on NEST 360. Correct me if I'm wrong, Imbosia, I know you're also in touch with what's happening at NEST 360. But between the two partnerships now we have about

facilities and that brings the total number of lives that we can save to 500,000 babies. Think about that. That's a lot of impact. So when we say is codename largest partnership, it's not just a word of mouth. It's actually the largest partnership, 500,000 babies. What are we hoping to do? We're hoping to use that data to develop research questions across this facilities that can be used to drive change.

We're hoping to do implementation research in KMC and infection control, which have really been identified even by the WHO as two of the largest impact areas. And we're not just doing implementation research because we want results. We're also going to be building early career researchers along the way. So mentorship.

partnership, collaboration, and really developing the next set of the next generation of African researchers. So you talked about having African researchers. True, we need all the help we can get from the global north, but we also need to develop our own things. And in these days that the tide is shifting, we also need to be able to do our own research on our priority topics and do our own research

the way that African researchers think that they should be done, being able to get funding for ourselves, all this is important, and getting the results that are most important to us as identified by data. So one of the things that the African Unital Network has done, really the background work was by Vaughan and we're always grateful for the amazing support that they've given us. The good thing about the data from ANN is that

Olufunke Bolaji (44:06.857)

can benchmark yourself against I mean across all the 23 centers so if we say kmc rate in idik it is 80 we can see what it is like across all the other facilities if we say our infection rate this was our mortality rate at the click of a button I can see what it is like across all the other facilities so kudos to von for developing such an amazing database again also building on their own global network

work and now we're able to align that with Nes360. So I it just beats the imagination how much we can really do through that partnership and that partnership has been signed off April 1 and it's a three-year project and at the end of three years we're really hoping to have had that much impact. Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (44:56.822)

Amazing, amazing. Another testament to your collaboration and advocacy skills being part of that partnership grant study. I think you sort of touched on this at the end of your explanation of the work you're involved in.

Olufunke Bolaji (45:11.409)

Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (45:20.43)

What does decolonizing neonatal research really mean on the ground and how does it change the relationship between researchers, communities and funders? More so in our context.

Olufunke Bolaji (45:36.295)

Mmm.

I'll give a lot of credit for instance for whatever I say on that topic to Dr. Osayeme Kagwiri. is Nigerian, he works in the US, he's a neonatologist in the US, he's the principal investigator for Pritam Africa. So when the initial ideas for this came up, we talked a lot with our mentors, Professor Nick Anbelting, Steve Allen. It was, we want to do research on caving.

on how to deliver surfactants but all the evidence for caffeine comes from high-income countries and true it was groundbreaking research overwhelming evidence but who says that the evidence is the same thing you will get in an African baby we know just because of the color of the skin it shouldn't change but really there was no evidence on caffeine the clinical trial evidence in terms of

a clinical trial, randomized controlled trial or anything from Africa. All the evidence was on high income countries and we've simply taken it like that. So we said, okay, we want to do research on this, a clinical trial on caffeine, on CPAP, on African babies, and it's going to be led by African researchers. Now who would fund it? You wouldn't find a lot of funding for that because the first impulse is there's already evidence on it.

But true there is evidence on it, but there's no evidence on it from African babies. I mean, I'm a one of my beautiful friends, lovely friends. I mean in one of the funding agencies says, but the evidence is overwhelming. Why do you want to do another research? But no, we don't have any evidence. We don't have any evidence from Africa. So if you search decolonizing, that's one aspect.

Mbozu Sipalo (47:12.108)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (47:33.305)

So we were really proud of preterm Africa, even though size in the US, I mean, I guess it's often hard to check on what we are doing. It's coming to Nigeria again in a few weeks. The co-principal investigator, amazing researcher called Dr. Helen, she's in Kenya. I'm also a co-principal investigator. We have country leads in Francophone countries, in Central African Republic, one of the few places that people don't go because of an humanitarian crisis.

there but we're there for Britain Africa. We're also in Ghana. Yes, I was in Central African Republic two or three weeks ago and it's good to they were happy they were enthusiastic they were ecstatic that they get to partake in this trial.

Mbozu Sipalo (48:04.227)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (48:22.555)

And the high income countries are doing a lot. We will never, never say, I mean, they haven't done anything for us, but sometimes you need to shift the landscape of the research. While somebody in Canada, for example, may be interested in genetic imprinting in neonatal sepsis, I am talking about infection control. Do they have water? Do they have hand sanitizers? So the research interests need to be

colonized.

if you put it that way, the people who would do the research, the funding, the narratives need to be from us. Why neonatology is the same all over the world? But the interest will differ based on the problems that you have in that particular setting. And for preterm Africa, it's a pragmatic trial. Even though the standards are there, the protocol is there, we will still allow each country to implement

Mbozu Sipalo (48:54.882)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (49:23.867)

meant it in a way that is feasible. I would do it in Nigeria and it may not be the way they would do it in Kumasi in Ghana. So we've left those things and it's something similar that the SNP Africa too is doing.

Dr. Julie Bilecki and Angela Dramoski, amazing people and doing work that is peculiar to us and leading it the way that we want to do it. I'm sure there are other aspects of this topic that I perhaps have not touched on, but at least let me speak to that so that in relation to what I am doing already and what we doing with our groups. Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (50:05.614)

I love that. I love how you have shaped the narrative to your story and how you're walking it. You're walking decolonizing of research in the African setting. And thank you so much for sharing that. Very, very inspiring. We're wrapping up and it's been an amazing talk. I've learned so much about you and your story. And one thing that I've picked up on is mentorship.

Olufunke Bolaji (50:32.583)

Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (50:34.86)

Looking back, what role has mentorship played in your own journey? And you sort of touched on this, but just like the big lessons you learned from the key people who have imprinted on you. Would you mind just sharing a bit about that?

Olufunke Bolaji (50:57.703)

I think mentorship is key in medical training. A lot of medicine is science and heart and muscle in pediatrics. So we learn the heart of the care from our mentors. You learn how to do the work. One of my very heavy mentors,

not in in pediatrics now actually an obstetrician he taught me how to listen to patients just listen just be an here just be present i mean i've never seen someone more patient with with patients than than professor baloko it is an obstetrician but he would listen to the patient professor what taught me how to observe the babies and we press all i will come forward

Mbozu Sipalo (51:27.182)

you

Mbozu Sipalo (51:37.422)

You

Olufunke Bolaji (51:50.415)

rounds in the evening and he's just walking and just looking and he's looking and I'm following him the bloody residents just running after him so what they are like what are you looking at he said I'm just looking at the babies I said show me what you are looking at he's barely speaking he's just looking at the babies

Mbozu Sipalo (51:59.278)

you

Mbozu Sipalo (52:03.726)

you

Mbozu Sipalo (52:07.214)

you

Olufunke Bolaji (52:09.903)

So I learned how to look at babies. Observation is everything for newborns. Of course we examine our patients, it's how they look, the color, the posture, the subtle seizures, I mean the activity. It tells a lot about what the baby is going through. So I learned about observation. I learned research from my initial teachers when I was in another hospital in the course of my residency. They taught me research early on.

Professor Ediji Professor Adebami taught me. He taught me, Dr. Adebara taught me how to do the work. Just be there. As a neonatologist, you really don't have free time. really, even when you are at home. My children know about bilirubin from when they were small. They know about jaundice. They know. And then they call me, say, mommy, I hope your babies, have oxygen is to sip up water. And their children, yeah.

Mbozu Sipalo (53:04.741)

wow.

Olufunke Bolaji (53:09.703)

so I mean she taught me that Indian pathologist is literally there around the clock and then as I've grown now I've learnt about teamwork for people I've learnt about partnership I've learnt a lot from Alex and the team at ANA I've learnt a lot from the team at London School I've learnt a lot from the team at Vaughan I've learnt a lot from the team or the people that have been privileged to work with at Gates Foundation

from you today I won't forget I've learned I've learned a lot from obstetricians I've learned from hospital managers I've learned a lot so it's it's all at every point in time fight there's always there's that room called forward there's always that room for improvement so learn I learn I tell people I learn about

Mbozu Sipalo (53:41.934)

Hahaha

Mbozu Sipalo (54:02.092)

Mmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (54:09.577)

pediatrics in church. There's no classroom but see how that woman is carrying a baby. See what she's doing. When she's in the hospital you can relate. I learned pediatrics in the market. See what they are doing. I sit down with them. Leave the doctor by to learn to walk. Sit down in the market and see what ordinary people say about babies and how to care for babies. Then you will learn about cultural practices. Then you will learn about mix. you don't let this happen to the baby.

Mbozu Sipalo (54:25.698)

Mm-hmm.

Olufunke Bolaji (54:39.469)

what will happen if a baby has jaundice you put breast milk in the eyes if you don't sit in the community you won't learn these things and all this impacts our practice I've learned a lot about research I'm still learning I've learned from a professor Joy Lohan I've learned from Angela Gramovsky research team so many people so we're always learning and keeping that attitude that humility to know that you always need to learn you never quite

Just keep learning. I don't think I can ever get away from that. Keep learning, keep learning, keep teaching too. Learning, teaching, yeah.

Mbozu Sipalo (55:18.744)

Yeah.

Mbozu Sipalo (55:23.002)

I love that just always having a teachable spirit and moving with it wherever you go, like whatever setting you're in, there's always something to learn. Yeah, so thank you for sharing that. It was really beautiful to listen to. I think that would be a good note to conclude our lovely, inspiring talk. But before we end,

Olufunke Bolaji (55:32.071)

you

Mbozu Sipalo (55:48.536)

How can our listeners connect with you? What's the best way to reach out?

Olufunke Bolaji (55:56.619)

I'm on LinkedIn you can find me on the phone.

Mbozu Sipalo (55:57.73)

Yes.

Mbozu Sipalo (56:01.198)

All right, great. So add Olufunke Bola G is linked into the show notes. And yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Olufunke for joining us today. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Global Neonatal Podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for always being supportive of the stories we share here. We hope you found this conversation as inspiring and thought-provoking as we did. And if you enjoyed it, don't forget to share it with your networks.

And if there's someone you think we should have a chat with as awesome as Dr. Olufunke Bolaji, please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to hear your suggestions. And until next time, take care, keep making a difference wherever you are, and let's go faster together for newborn care.

Olufunke Bolaji (56:46.001)

Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (56:52.108)

Thank you.

Olufunke Bolaji (56:52.283)

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

Mbozu Sipalo (56:55.256)

Thank you. Thank you, everyone care.